From: The Dinosaur That Survived: How Birds Became Earth’s Living Dinosaurs

Non-avian dinosaurs went extinct at the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary, but avian dinosaurs survived.

The mass extinction event at the K-Pg boundary, about 66 million years ago, caused the extinction of all non-avian dinosaurs. However, fossil records show that certain bird lineages persisted beyond this boundary and diversified in the Paleogene period. This indicates that birds, the avian dinosaurs, were the sole dinosaur group to survive and continue evolving.

Sources

Birds survived the dinosaur extinction event

Science · 2013

Read the full exploration

What else is in this exploration

4 perspectives5 visualizations4 insights10 media resources14 rabbit holes

evidence

Fossils of early birds from after the extinction show rapid diversification.

evidence

Small body size and flight ability helped some dinosaurs survive the mass extinction.

evidence

Molecular studies support the dinosaurian origin of birds.

Continue exploring

The Dinosaur That Survived: How Birds Became Earth’s Living Dinosaurs

Evidence, perspectives, rabbit holes, and more